Agricultural bagger with dual rotor and/or variable-taper tunnel

ABSTRACT

An agricultural bagger apparatus and method for compacting feed into a horizontally deployed bag including a moving hopper wall and mechanism for moving the wall at an input end of hopper. The wall moving mechanism and the moving wall of the hopper sweeps the feed adjacent to the sloping wall to prevent feed bridging. A safety enclosure isolates the wall moving mechanism from contaminants and prevents exposure to the wall moving mechanism. Some embodiments also compact feed in the upper portion of a tunnel, for example, by reciprocating a hinged piston above a primary compression mechanism. A tunnel-adjustment mechanism varies a cross-section area of the tunnel exit in order to control the amount of compaction on the feed as it leaves the tunnel and enters the bag. In some embodiments, dual counter-rotating toothed compression mechanism force feed between the rotors and into the tunnel at a rate and pressure greater than what is possible with only one multiple-toothed compressor rotor.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This invention claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application60/648,833 filed Jan. 31, 2005, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

This invention also is related to the following six patent applications:

U.S. Ser. No. 08/904,160 filed Jul. 31, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No.5,878,552 issued Mar. 9, 1999 to Paul R. Wingert;

U.S. Ser. No. 09/175,821 filed Oct. 20, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No.6,061,999 issued May 16, 2000 to Paul R. Wingert;

U.S. Ser. No. 09/571,424 filed May 15, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,586issued Feb. 11, 2003 to Paul R. Wingert;

U.S. Ser. No. 09/721,268 filed Nov. 22, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No.6,672,034 issued Jan. 6, 2004 to Paul R. Wingert;

U.S. Ser. No. 09/977,036 filed Oct. 11, 2001 by Paul R. Wingert;

U.S. Ser. No. 10/848,239 filed May 16, 2004 by Paul R. Wingert;

each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of agricultural baggers, and morespecifically to a method and apparatus for more efficiently compactingfeed into the tunnel using two or more rotors, and providing a variabletaper to the extrusion tunnel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Horizontally expandable, silage storage bags are commonly used as analternative to permanent feed storage structures such as barns andsilos. From an economic standpoint, an expandable plastic storage bag ispreferable to a more elaborate, permanent structure. Further, theexpandable bags are more easily loaded with feed than permanentstructure and the silage stored therein is readily accessible for use,for example using a small tractor with a front bucket to unload thefeed.

An exemplary prior art bagger is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,552(which patent is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference), toPaul R. Wingert, the present applicant. A tractor-powered bag-loadingapparatus is disclosed in association with an expandable bag. A backstopis located at the filled end of the bag and has attached theretolaterally spaced cables, which extend forward to rotatable cable drumson the bagger machine. The drums are yieldably braked and, under apredetermined force applied to the cables, release the cable to allowmovement of the bag-loading apparatus and tractor away from the filledend of the bag as it is filled. The bag is filled by a toothed rotor,which propels silage through a tapered tunnel and into the bag inlet.The tapered tunnel described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,552 provides asmooth, more evenly filled bag.

The bag for use with such bagging machines is manufactured and deliveredin a pleated shape, i.e., folded into an accordion-bellows-type shape.Typically, a bag having a nominal ten-foot-diameter (approximately 3meters diameter, or 9.6 meters circumference) and a 300-foot length(approximately 90 meters length) will be folded to a 10-foot-diameter(about 3 meters) ring about one foot (about 0.3 meter) long and 1 foot(about 0.3 meter) thick. To start the loading operation, this bag-ringis pre-loaded around the tunnel, and the pleats are unfolded one at atime as the bag is deployed and filled with feedstock. Once any portionof the bag fills with feed, that portion becomes very heavy, and doesnot move. Thus the bagger machine itself is propelled along the groundin front of the bag being filled.

One exemplary bagging machine is described in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/721,268 filed on Nov. 22, 2000, entitled “ImprovedAgricultural Feed Bagger and Method” by Paul R. Wingert, the inventor ofthe present application. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/721,268 isincorporated in its entirety by reference. In some embodiments of thepresent invention, a large conveyer-belt bed, as described in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/721,268, is provided for loadingvoluminous quantities of agricultural material into its hopper.

One contends with numerous problems in using previous baggingstructures. For example, there is a safety problem caused by feed thatbridges within the tapered input hopper. Persons may be tempted tounclog the hopper by stomping or otherwise inserting an arm or a legthus risking being sucked through and shredded by the primarycompression mechanism. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/977,036(incorporated herein by reference) filed Oct. 11, 2001 by Paul R.Wingert, the inventor of the present invention, provided severalembodiments that churned the feed to prevent bridging of feed in theinput hopper, and that had fixed safety shields over portions of themoving parts. Apparatus and methods for increasing compaction in theupper tunnel were also described.

As more fully described in patent application Ser. No. 09/977,036, oneway to help prevent bridging is to churn or move the feed in hopper, forexample using an arm that moves in a curvical motion, since it isconnected to arm that moves in a circular motion driven by motor (e.g.,a hydraulic motor, in some embodiments), and arm is also connected toarm that moves in a wiper-blade motion. Thus the curvical motion of armhelps prevent feed from bridging against sloping wall by moving feedtowards rotor. Sloping shield wall provided additional safety byenclosing much of the moving part of the arm, and much or all of armsand. However, now bridging could occur against the stationary slopingshield wall, although this was further from rotor and at a portion ofchute that was larger in cross sectional area, so the bridging problemwas reduced.

Conventional baggers also suffer from an inability to adequately compactfeed in the upper and lower portions of the tunnel, thus leaving thefeed in the lower bag highly compacted and the feed in the upper bagonly moderately compacted. Conventional baggers also suffer frominability to efficiently force large amounts of feed into the bag whileproviding a variable control on the tunnel opening to control the amountof feed compaction.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides an agricultural bagger apparatus for compactingfeed into a horizontally deployed bag. The apparatus includes a primarycompression mechanism and an input hopper that receives agriculturalfeed. The hopper has a sloping wall and a lower-end exit chute locatedto transfer the agricultural feed into the primary compressionmechanism. The apparatus also includes a moving wall as at least part ofthe sloping inside wall of the input hopper to move the agriculturalfeed that was adjacent to the sloping wall toward the primarycompression mechanism in order to prevent feed bridging in the hopperbefore the primary compression mechanism.

One aspect of the invention includes an adjustable tunnel with theability to vary the area of the feed-output extrusion end of the tunnel,and thus control the amount of compaction of the feed (i.e., by changingthe amount of backpressure exerted by the walls of the tunnel.

Another aspect of the invention is a method that improves the flow ofagricultural feed in an agricultural feed stock bagging machine having atunnel and a primary compression mechanism fed by a hopper with asloping wall. The feed is deposited into a hopper and pressure withinthe feed along the sloping wall is displaced and feed is swept along bythe moving wall to reduce the tendency for the feed to bridge in thehopper in order that the feed continuously flows toward the primarycompression mechanism. This is a further safety innovation to prevent asituation where a bagger machine operator might otherwise climb into theinput hopper in a dangerous attempt to free the bridged feed and restartthe flow of feed through the hopper. By preventing the clogged feed,there is even less motivation for a person to foolishly insert an arm orfoot into the hopper.

Yet another aspect of the invention provides a method for extruding intoa feedbag connected to a feed tunnel. The method includes deploying thebag from a position substantially at the back edge of the primarycompression such that the lower portion of the feed drops substantiallyto ground level within the bag as soon as it leaves the primarycompression stage. The exit surface between the exit end of the tunnelunder the hopper and the ground is substantially vertical. This furthercompresses the feed in the lower bag, since it does not need to bepushed across a sloping lower exit surface after leaving the primarycompression stage. Some embodiment also include compacting feed from theupper portion of the tunnel toward the upper central portion of thetunnel, and displacing pressure from the mid-level portion of the tunneljust above the primary compression stage and into the upper portion ofthe tunnel. In some embodiments, the compacting feed from the upperportion of the tunnel further includes reciprocating a piston connectedto a hinged apparatus above the primary compression mechanism todisplace pressure inside the feed tunnel above the primary compressionmechanism. This increases the compaction on the top portion of thetunnel without unduly juicing the feed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of a bagging machine 100.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a bagging machine 200, according to anembodiment of this invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a bagging machine 300, according to anembodiment of this invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a bagging machine 400, according to anotherembodiment of this invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view of a bagging machine 500, according to stillanother embodiment of this invention, with the sidewalls in the wideposition.

FIG. 6 is a top view of a bagging machine 500, showing the sidewalls ina narrowed position.

FIG. 7 is a bag-end view of a bagging machine 500.

FIG. 8 is a top view of a bagging machine 800, according to stillanother embodiment of this invention, with the fold-down hopper 860 inthe upright position.

FIG. 9 is a top view of a bagging machine 800, according to stillanother embodiment of this invention, with the fold-down hopper 860 inthe folded-down position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Although the following detailed description contains many specifics forthe purpose of illustration, a person of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that many variations and alterations to the following detailsare within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the followingpreferred embodiments of the invention are set forth without any loss ofgenerality to, and without imposing limitations upon the claimedinvention.

In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments,reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof,and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments inwhich the invention may be practiced. It is understood that otherembodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

The leading digit(s) of reference numbers appearing in the Figuresgenerally corresponds to the Figure number in which that component isfirst introduced, such that the same reference number is used throughoutto refer to an identical component, which appears in multiple Figures.Signals and connections may be referred to by the same reference numberor label, and the actual meaning will be clear from its use in thecontext of the description.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a bagger 100 (also called feed-bagging machine100). The feed bagger 100 is not pulled, rather, the pressure from thefeed 98 filling the bag 99 pushes the bagger 100 and the tractor (notshown) that is powering bagger 100 ahead at a rate equal to the fillingrate of bag 99. A steel cable between bagger 100 and a backstop (notshown, but which is to the right of the apparatus and bag shown inFIG. 1) is yieldably held by a disk-brake mechanism. This ensures thefeed is compacted before the bagger is allowed to advance. The primarycompression mechanism includes a rotor 130 having multiple teeth 131,and powered by a power-take-off (PTO) shaft 133 from the tractor thatpowers bagger 100, forces feed 98 up and back into a tunnel 150. In someembodiments, tunnel 150 is a long tapered tunnel such as described inU.S. Pat. No. 5,878,552 by the inventor of the present invention, herebyincorporated by its entirety by reference. In other embodiments, tunnel150 is a variable-orifice tunnel as described in FIGS. 4 and 5A below.

Movable upper bag bracket 125 is used to lift the folded bag 99 intoplace on the outside of tunnel 150, and supports/holds the folded bag 99at the front end of the top of tunnel 150 as it unfolds from the insideof the folded bag. Lower bag tray 120 is tilted up at its trailing edge129, supported at its front edge by brackets 121 connected to one of aplurality of rungs 122 (for adjustability), and yieldably supported atits back edge by spring-and-chain 123 (which can have its force adjustedby setting various chain links of the chain onto a fixed hook at thetop). The input feed 98 is dropped into hopper 160. Such a bagger 100has a tunnel 150 that provides some support for bag 99 as it unfolds,but which has side walls along which the bag unfolds that are ovoid ortapered inward at the back such that the bag is stretched slightly andthen released as it passes over tunnel 150 that moves in the directionof travel of the bagger 100. The bag 99, once deployed and filled withfeed does not move relative to ground 90. The bagger tunnel 150 providessome backpressure to the feed, which thus extrudes into the bag rearwardat a substantially constant pressure.

The agricultural feed 98, which is input to the hopper 160, falls towardthe primary compression mechanism 130. The primary compression mechanism130 includes a series or a plurality of teeth 131. The teeth force thefeed in the upper portion of the hopper 160 to an outlet or exit end198. As the bagger mechanism 100 also includes a comb 132, tines ofwhich are positioned between the teeth 131 of the rotor 130. The comb132 removes material or feed 98 from between various teeth 131 on therotor 130, and compacts the feed into the tunnel 150. Thus, the comb 132prevents the clogging of the rotor and specifically the jamming ofagricultural material between the teeth 131 of the rotor 130. The rotor130 turns in a counterclockwise direction (in this FIG. 1) and outputsfeed at an output end 198. The output feed 98 as depicted by a varietyof arrows near the output end 198 of the rotor mechanism forces the feedinto the tunnel 150. At the bottom of the output end 198 is an exitsurface 175. As shown in FIG. 1, the exit surface 175 slopes from theoutput end 198 of the rotor to the tunnel 150. The exit surface 175 fitsinside the tunnel 150. In some embodiments, tapered hopper 160 has asloping front wall 139, which can cause bridging of the feed in hopper160, leaving a small gap 137 between the bottom of the feed and thecompression rotor 130. Some embodiments

In some embodiments, the bagger 100 also includes an upper bagcompression mechanism 180. In some embodiments, compression mechanism180 is a toothed cylinder with teeth 181 and comb 182, similar tocylinder 130 and comb 132. In other embodiments, a reciprocating pistonsuch as described in FIG. 1 of patent application Ser. No. 10/818,239filed May 16, 2004, which application is incorporated herein byreference. It should be noted that the term “piston” is defined as anymechanism that reciprocates between a compressed position and awithdrawn position. Such a piston is typically plate steel fabricated toa solid external shape that can be extended into a body of feed tocompact the feed and then withdrawn to a position that allows additionalfeed into the volume that the wedge used to occupy. In this description,the term “wedge piston” is defined as any hinged mechanism thatreciprocates between a compressed position and a withdrawn position.Such a wedge piston is typically plate steel fabricated to a solidexternal shape that can be extended into a body of feed to compact thefeed and then withdrawn to a position that allows additional feed intothe volume that the wedge used to occupy.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a bagging machine 200, according to anembodiment of this invention. In some embodiments, a hydraulic cylinder205 is provided to vary the width of tunnel 250. In some embodiments, ashydraulic cylinder 205 extends it forces backward the outer point of thetunnel, which pivots on hinge 255, force the back edge 256 of thesidewall of 251 of tunnel 250 to pivot inward, rather than slidetogether. This reduces the area of the back end of tunnel 250, thusincreasing the backpressure on the feed 98 and increasing the compactionfactor on the feed 98. It also keeps the slight stretch of the bag 99over the widest dimension of the tunnel. In some embodiments, theoperation of the hydraulic cylinders 205 is varied and controlled inorder to adjust and/or maintain the desired compaction factor. In otherembodiments, the two halves of the tunnel slide towards and away fromeach other, in order to control the backpressure on the feed 98 in thetunnel. In some embodiments, the width of the tunnel resulting fromsliding the two halves back or forth is varied and controlled in orderto adjust and/or maintain the desired compaction factor. Several aspectsof the bagging machine 200 are the same as the description of theelements of bagging machine 100. Rather than repeat the description ofthe similar elements, the differences between bagging machine 200 andbagging machine 100 will be stressed.

The bagging machine 200 includes a hopper 160 having a reciprocatinghopper wall 267 and a fixed back wall 169. The moving sloped wall 267moves with respect to a fixed sloped wall 161 of the hopper 160. Themoving sloped wall 267 is an inverted J-shaped wall having ridges 266.Substantially the entire wall or a major portion of the moving slopedwall 267 moves (i.e., the portion that contacts the input feed 98). Themoving sloped wall 267 is moved by a wall moving mechanism 260. TheJ-shaped moving sloped wall 267 includes an end wall 268 and an outsidewall 269. The end wall 268 forms the top of the inverted J-shape, whilethe outside wall 269 forms the shorter down turned end of the J-shape.Affixed to the fixed wall 161 of the hopper 160 is a plastic bearingsurface 365. The moving sloped wall 267 moves or oscillates along a pathdepicted by arrows 320 and 321. The motor 166 is rotated to move wall267 up and down.

In some embodiments, safety enclosure 280 is placed over the wall movingmechanism 260. One purpose of the safety enclosure 280 is to preventexposure of the operator to the rotating parts of the wall movingmechanism 260. Yet another purpose of the safety enclosure is to isolatethe wall moving mechanism 260 from feed and other debris that may resultfrom placing feed 98 into the input end of the hopper 160. Therefore,the safety enclosure 280 is not only for safety but also is for reducingthe number of contaminants to which the wall moving mechanism 260 isexposed.

Similar to the bagger mechanism 100 of FIG. 1, the hopper 160 has anoutput end 198 which forces feed into the tunnel 150. The baggingmachine 200 also includes an upper bag compression mechanism 180. Therotor 130 includes teeth 131. The bagging mechanism 200 includes a comb132, which cleans feed 98 that is passing from the input end of thehopper 160 to the output end 198 of the rotor 130 from teeth 131 andforces the feed into tunnel 250.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a bagging machine 300, according to someembodiments of the invention. The bagging machine 300 includes afeed-deposit table 203 having a moving conveyor 202 that conveys feedtowards input hopper 160. For example, in some embodiments, feed-deposittable 203 is the truck bed of a truck 310, to which the bagger machineis attached, while in other embodiments, feed-deposit table is a trailerthat is independently moved into position in front of (to the left inthe Figure) the bagger machine. In some embodiments, truck 310 andfeed-deposit table 203 are combined with other bagger configurationsdescribed herein. Other aspects of machine 300 are as described in FIG.2. Feed deposit table 203 allows a large amount of feed to be dumped andfed into input hopper 160, thus reducing the amount of labor needed tofill the hopper 160.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a bagging machine 400, according to anotherembodiment of this invention. Many aspects of the bagging machine 400are similar to the aspects of the bagging machine 200 of FIG. 2. Thebagging mechanism 400 includes a reciprocating moving sloped wall 267.The moving sloping wall 267 helps to prevent a bridge or bridging 95 ofthe feed 98 in the hopper 160. In this particular embodiment of theinvention, the elongated wall of the moving sloping wall 267 is providedwith a plurality of ridges 266. The ridges 266 form a plurality ofadditional ledges or pushing surfaces that compact the feed or push thefeed in the hopper 160 toward the primary rotor compression device 430,which rotor is rotating in a clockwise direction relative to the FIG. 4.A second rotor 440 is situated above rotor 430 but rotates in a counterclockwise direction. This forces feed 98 between the rotors 430 and 440and into tunnel 250 at a much faster rate than is possible with a singlerotor. In some embodiments, rotors 430 and 440 are placed far enoughapart such that there is clearance (e.g., about one to threecentimeters, or about one-half to one inch, or so) between the teeth 431of rotor 430 and teeth 441 of rotor 440 regardless of the relativeangles of the rotors or their motions.

FIG. 5 is a top view of a bagging machine 500, according to stillanother embodiment of this invention. In this embodiment, the exitopening 256 of the tunnel 250 (i.e., the end farthest from compressor430) has an adjustable cross sectional area or opening. Hydrauliccylinders 205 are shown in their retracted or non-extended positions,and thus side walls 251 are in their outward most positions, providingthe least amount of backpressure and compaction to feed 98. As hydrauliccylinders 205 are extended, they rotate sidewalls 251 inward, as shownin FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a top view of a bagging machine 500 of FIG. 5. In this view,cylinders 205 are shown in their extended position, and thus the exitopening 256 is reduced in area. The dotted line 251′ shows the positionof sidewalls in their outwardly extended positions. The exit opening256′ has a smaller area as compared to the exit area 256 of FIG. 5. Thisprovides greater backpressure on the feed, thus increasing the degree ofcompaction of the feed 98 in the tunnel 250. As hydraulic cylinders 205are extended, they have rotated sidewalls 251 inward. In someembodiments, the amount of cylinder extension and thus the amount oftunnel exit area reduction, is continuously variable, in order toprovide a smooth variability in the amount of compaction. In someembodiments, the position of the sidewalls 251 is kept constant for theentire length of the bag filling. In other embodiments, the position ofthe sidewalls is varied along the length of the bag in order to providethe desired amount of compaction at each position along the bag 99.

FIG. 7 is a bag-end view of a bagging machine 500 of FIG. 5. In someembodiments, a vertical stiffening plate 571 is welded or otherwiseattached at right angles to top wall 257 of tunnel 250. In someembodiments, a horizontal stiffening bar 572 and bolts 573 provide anadditional stiffening mechanism 253 that works in concert withstiffening wall 571 to keep top wall 257 in place as the high-pressurefeed is extruded from the tunnel 250. FIG. 7 also shows cable spools 581that limit the rate of movement of mechanism 500 as feed 98 is pushedinto the bag 99.

FIG. 8 is a top view of a bagging machine 800, according to stillanother embodiment of this invention, with the fold-down hopper 860 inthe upright position. In some embodiments, machine 800 is substantiallysimilar to machine 400 of FIG. 4, but with compressor rotor 840 (whichreplaces compressor rotor 440 of FIG. 4) being more exposed on top, andwith compressor rotor 830 (which replaces compressor rotor 430 of FIG.4) being moved forward (to the left in the FIG. 8) and upward. Thisforces feed 98 by its own weight into both compressor rotor 830 andcompressor rotor 840 In some embodiments, compressor rotor 830 ispositioned about as high as compressor rotor 840, with both beingpositioned such that the top reach of their teeth 831 and 841 are aboutas high as the top of tunnel 250, in order to efficiently empty hopper860 and to provide additional compaction of feed (i.e., a highercompaction factor) at the top of the filled bag 99.

In some embodiments, a generally vertical feed-director plate 850 ismounted transverse (from the far side to the near side of hopper 860 inFIG. 8) that functions to keep feed being pushed into bag 99 fromescaping around the ends of teeth 831 of the front rotor 830 and teeth841 of back rotor 840. In some embodiments, plate 850 is curved in agenerally concave cylinder shape (facing forward) along part of itsheight (e.g., the upper half in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8) togenerally conform to the path of the tips of teeth 831, and a generallyconcave cylinder shape (facing backward) along part of its height (e.g.,the lower half in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8) to generally conformto the path of the tips of teeth 841.

In some embodiments, in order to improve the compaction factor in theupper regions of the filled bag, the centers of rotation of compressorrotor 830 and of compressor rotor 840 are configured, when operating, toboth be above 42 inches (109 cm) above the ground 90. In otherembodiments, they are both above 48 inches (121 cm) above the ground 90.In other embodiments, they are both above 54 inches (137 cm) above theground 90. In other embodiments, they are both above 60 inches (152 cm)above the ground 90. In other embodiments, they are both above 66 inches(167 cm) above the ground 90. In other embodiments, they are both above72 inches (182 cm) above the ground 90. In other embodiments, they areboth above 78 inches (198 cm) above the ground 90. In other embodiments,they are both above 84 inches (213 cm) above the ground 90. In someembodiments, the plastic bag 99 top of bag 99 into which the feed iscompressed is up to seven feet (84 inches=213 cm) high or more whenfilled, so with in conventional baggers with the compressor rotor belowthe midpoint of bag height, the compressor must not only compress thefeed, but push it upward in the bag to obtain a good compression factor(and thus better feed preservation) for the feed in the upper bag.

In some embodiments, the rotational axis of compressor rotor 830 and therotational axis of compressor rotor 840, when operating, are configuredto both be above about 55% of the filled-bag height above the ground 90.In other embodiments, they are both about above 60% of the filled-bagheight above the ground 90 when operating. In other embodiments, theyare both about above 65% of the filled-bag height above the ground 90when operating. In other embodiments, they are both about above 70% ofthe filled-bag height above the ground 90 when operating. In otherembodiments, they are both about above 75% of the filled-bag heightabove the ground 90 when operating. In other embodiments, they are bothabout above 80% of the filled-bag height above the ground 90 whenoperating. In other embodiments, they are both about above 85% of thefilled-bag height above the ground 90 when operating. In otherembodiments, they are both about above 90% of the filled-bag heightabove the ground 90 when operating. In other embodiments, they are bothabout above 95% of the filled-bag height above the ground 90 whenoperating. In other embodiments, they are both about above 100% of thefilled-bag height above the ground 90 when operating.

In some embodiments, compressor rotor 830 and of compressor rotor 840are mounted so high that hopper 860, when operating, that hopper 860must also be quite high when operating. In order to provide a morecompact shape for traveling on highways or for storing bagger 800 in ashed, in some embodiments, hopper 860 is configured to be folded orotherwise manipulated to provide a compact shape when not operating anda functional tall shape when operating. In some embodiments, hopper 860has a back wall 869 and two sidewalls 868 that are configured to swingaround hinge 865 into a temporarily fixed upright position as shown inFIG. 8, or into a temporarily fixed folded position as shown in FIG. 9.In some embodiments, front wall 864 is also configured to swing aroundhinge 866 into a temporarily fixed upright position as shown in FIG. 8,or into a temporarily fixed folded position as shown in FIG. 9. In someembodiments, front wall 864 (e.g., as shown) is of the moving-wallconfiguration described in FIG. 3, and having a conveyor belt system 202for lifting feed from a loading bed (e.g., 203 of FIG. 3) into hopper860, where conveyor-belt system 202 also folds down.

FIG. 9 is a top view of a bagging machine 800, according to stillanother embodiment of this invention, with the fold-down hopper 860 inthe folded-down position. This compact configuration makes baggermachine 800 more suitable for moving or storage. For example, in someembodiments, bagger 800 can be folded and then loaded into the truck bedof a truck (such as truck 310 of FIG. 3) for highway transport. If thebagger is too high (e.g., with a high hopper) such transport isinfeasible.

One aspect of the invention, in some embodiments, includes anagricultural bagger apparatus for compacting feed into a horizontallydeployed bag, wherein the tunnel exit opening has a variably sizedcross-sectional area opening 256 and/or a plurality of toothedcompression mechanisms 430 and 440. The counter rotating toothedcompression mechanisms force a larger amount of feed with a higherpressure into tunnel 250, thus preventing stalling of the mechanism thattypically occurs with a single input compression mechanism (e.g.,compressor 130 of FIG. 1). The variable width tunnel 250 compensates forvariability in feed pressure that otherwise occurs when using aplurality of compression mechanisms 430 and 440.

One aspect of the invention, in some embodiments, includes anagricultural bagger apparatus for compacting feed into a horizontallydeployed bag. This apparatus includes a primary compression mechanism,and a hopper that receives agricultural feed, the hopper furtherincluding: an input hopper portion that includes a first hopper wall,and a lower end exit chute connected to the primary compressionmechanism, wherein a major portion of the hopper wall moves relative tothe rest of the hopper to urge feed towards the primary compressionmechanism.

In some embodiments of the apparatus, the first hopper wall is a slopedwall that moves in an oscillating motion.

In some embodiments of the apparatus, the first hopper wall includes afirst ridge, and a second ridge wherein the first and second ridges areconfigured to push the agricultural feed in the hopper toward theprimary compression mechanism as the first hopper wall moves.

In some embodiments of the apparatus, the first hopper wall is a slopedwall that moves in an oscillating up-and-down motion.

In some embodiments of the apparatus, the first hopper wall furtherincludes an inner wall plate, an outer wall plate, an end wallconnecting the inner wall to the outer wall plate, a linkage pointattached to a portion of at least one of the inner wall, the outer walland the end wall, and a wall moving mechanism attached to the linkagepoint to move the first hopper wall.

In some embodiments of the apparatus, the linkage point is attached to asurface of the first hopper wall isolated from a surface of the firsthopper wall that contacts feed.

Some embodiments of the apparatus further include a safety enclosureattached to the first hopper to enclose a portion of the first hopperwall, the linkage point and the wall-moving mechanism.

Some embodiments of the apparatus further include at least one greasepath having a first end on an exterior surface of the safety enclosureand a second end connect to a moving joint of the wall-moving mechanism.

In some embodiments of the apparatus, the wall moving mechanism furtherinclude a sprocket, and a rotating linkage arm attached between thesprocket and the linkage point.

In some embodiments of the apparatus, the wall moving mechanism furtherincludes: a sprocket, a first linkage arm attached to the sprocket, anda second linkage arm attached to the first linkage arm and the linkagepoint.

In some embodiments of the apparatus, the wall moving mechanism furtherincludes a chain, the chain attached to drive power between the sprocketand the primary compression mechanism.

Some embodiments of the apparatus further include a secondarycompression mechanism located near the primary compression mechanism.

Some embodiments of the apparatus further include an output tunnel, anda secondary compression means for further compacting feed primarily inan upper portion of the tunnel.

In some embodiments of the apparatus, the primary compression mechanismrotates in a first direction and the secondary compression mechanismrotates in a second direction different from the first direction.

In some embodiments of the apparatus, the primary compression mechanismfurther comprises a first set of teeth and wherein the secondarycompression mechanism includes a second set of teeth, the first set ofteeth interdigitated with the second set of teeth as the primarycompression mechanism rotates and the second compression mechanismrotates.

Some embodiments of the apparatus further include a tunnel, wherein theprimary compression mechanism is located near a first portion of thetunnel, and an upper compression mechanism located near a second portionof the tunnel, the upper compression mechanism connected to the tunnelto further compress feed at a distance above the primary compressionmechanism and toward an upper portion of the tunnel cavity.

In some embodiments of the apparatus, the first hopper wall includes aplastic end portion and wherein the apparatus further comprises aplastic bearing plate associated with at least a portion of the hopper,the plastic end portion of the hopper wall contacting the plasticbearing plate as the hopper wall moves.

Some embodiments of the apparatus further include a tunnel, wherein theprimary compression mechanism is located near a first portion of thetunnel, and an exit surface positioned between an exit end of theprimary compression mechanism and the tunnel, wherein the exit surfaceis substantially vertically orientated.

Some embodiments of the apparatus further include a tunnel, wherein theprimary compression mechanism is located near a first portion of thetunnel, and an exit surface positioned between an exit end of theprimary compression mechanism and the tunnel, wherein the exit surfaceis sloped over a distance less than the diameter of the primarycompression mechanism.

An aspect of some embodiments of the invention includes a method forimproving the flow of agricultural feed in an agriculturalfeedstock-bagging machine having a tunnel and a primary compressionmechanism fed by a hopper. This method includes providing the hopperwith at least two walls, and moving a major portion of at least one ofthe two walls of the hopper relative to the other wall.

Some embodiments of the method further include sloping the major portionof at least one of the two walls of the hopper toward the primarycompression mechanism.

Some embodiments of the method further include covering a mechanism formoving a major portion of at least one of the two walls of the hopper.

Some embodiments of the method further include conducting grease to amoving major portion of at least one of the two walls of the hopper froma connector at a position remote from the mechanism.

An aspect of some embodiments of the invention includes an apparatus forcompacting feed into a horizontally deployed bag, the apparatusincluding an input hopper, and means, as described herein andequivalents thereto, and means for moving a major portion of at leastone wall of the hopper.

Some embodiments of the apparatus further include means, as describedherein and equivalents thereto, for placing grease on a slidinginterface of the at least one wall of the hopper.

It is specifically contemplated that the present invention includesembodiments having combinations and subcombinations of the variousembodiments and features that are individually described hereinincluding those described in the patents and applications incorporatedby reference (i.e., some of the features from one embodiment combinedwith some of the features of another embodiment). Further, someembodiments include fewer than all the components described as part ofany one of the embodiments described herein.

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to beillustrative, and not restrictive. Although numerous characteristics andadvantages of various embodiments as described herein have been setforth in the foregoing description, together with details of thestructure and function of various embodiments, many other embodimentsand changes to details will be apparent to those of skill in the artupon reviewing the above description. The scope of the invention shouldbe, therefore, determined with reference to the appended claims, alongwith the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Inthe appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used asthe plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and“wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” and“third,” etc., are used merely as labels, and are not intended to imposenumerical requirements on their objects.

1. An agricultural bagger apparatus for compacting feed into ahorizontally deployed bag, the apparatus comprising: an extrusiontunnel; a primary compression mechanism having two or more toothedrotors operable to rotate in opposite directions in order to force feedbetween the rotors and into the tunnel.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1,further comprising: a hopper that receives agricultural feed, the hopperfurther including: an input hopper portion that includes a first hopperwall; and a lower end exit chute connected to the primary compressionmechanism, wherein a major portion of the first hopper wall movesrelative to other portions of the hopper to urge feed towards theprimary compression mechanism.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein thefirst hopper wall is a sloped wall that moves in an oscillating motion.4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first hopper wall includes: afirst ridge; and a second ridge wherein the first and second ridges areconfigured to push the agricultural feed in the hopper toward theprimary compression mechanism as the first hopper wall moves.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the extrusion tunnel has a mechanism tovary a cross sectional area of the tunnel in order to control acompaction factor of the feed.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein theextrusion tunnel includes a top wall and one or more movable sidewallshingedly attached to the bagger apparatus.
 7. The apparatus of claim 5,further comprising one or more hydraulic cylinders attach to eachmovable sidewall and operable to vary a lateral position of thecylinder's sidewall.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a plurality ofthe rotors, when operating, are configured to have their rotational axisabove about 60% of the filled-bag height above the ground.
 9. A methodfor improving the flow of agricultural feed in an agricultural feedstock bagging machine having an output tunnel and a primary compressionmechanism, the method comprising: forcing feed into the tunnel; varyinga cross-sectional area of the tunnel to control a compression factor ofthe feed.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the varying of thecross-sectional area includes moving side walls of the tunnel inwardlyin order to reduce the extrusion opening of the tunnel.
 11. The methodof claim 10, wherein moving the sidewalls is accomplished by extending ahydraulic cylinder.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the forcing offeed into the tunnel is accomplished by forcing the feed between counterrotating toothed compression mechanisms.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the forcing of feed into the tunnel is accomplished by forcingthe feed between the counter rotating toothed compression mechanismshaving their rotational axis located above about 60% of the filled-bagheight above the ground.
 14. An agricultural bagger apparatus forcompacting feed into a horizontally deployed bag, the apparatuscomprising: an input hopper; an extrusion tunnel; and a multi-rotorprimary-compression means for forcing feed from the hopper into theextrusion tunnel.
 15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprisingmoving wall means on the hopper for moving feed through the hoppertoward the primary compressor.
 16. The apparatus of claim 14, furthercomprising tunnel-size adjusting means for adjusting a compressionfactor of feed in the tunnel.
 17. The apparatus of claim 14, furthercomprising a means for adjusting a cross sectional area of the extrusiontunnel's exit port.
 18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein a pluralityof the rotors, when operating, are configured to have their rotationalaxis above about 60% of the filled-bag height above the ground.
 19. Theapparatus of claim 14, wherein a plurality of the rotors, whenoperating, are configured to have their rotational axis above about 80%of the filled-bag height above the ground.
 20. The apparatus of claim14, wherein a plurality of the rotors, when operating, are configured tohave their rotational axis above about 90% of the filled-bag heightabove the ground.